Chemical Constituents of Garcinia xanthochymus Seeds

Garcinia xanthochymus Hook. f. (Clusiaceae) or gamboge is a medium sized evergreen tree native to India. The fruit is edible, and used in traditional medicine for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery. Additionally, the fruit is used to make a yellow fabric dye and as a watercolor pigment. Numerous benzophenones, biflavonoids, triterpenes, xanthones, and lipids have been isolated from various parts of the plant. However, few investigations have been performed on the seeds of G. xanthochymus, and previous research in our laboratory on a related genus has shown that the chemical profile of seeds differs markedly from other plant parts. The current study investigated the chemical composition of a methanolic extract of G. xanthochymus seeds. The extract was partitioned sequentially with solvents, and the resulting partitions analyzed by HPLC and LC/MS. Several compounds including the biflavonoids volkensiflavone, fukugetin, and its glycoside, fukugiside, have been identified from G. xanthochymus seeds. These pure compounds are being investigated for biological activity.